They made fishing tackles for him, and little boats out of
bark, played with him and rowed him about the anchoring place,
when Ignat went to town on business. The boy often heard the men
talking about his father, but he paid no attention to what they
said, and never told his father what he heard about him. But one
day, in Astrakhan, while the steamer was taking in a cargo of
fuel, Foma heard the voice of Petrovich, the machinist:
"He ordered such a lot of wood to be taken in. What an absurd
man! First he loads the steamer up to the very deck, and then he
roars. 'You break the machinery too often,' he says. 'You pour
oil,' he says, 'at random.'"
The voice of the gray and stern pilot replied:
"It's all his exorbitant greediness. Fuel is cheaper here, so he
is taking all he can. He is greedy, the devil!"
"Oh, how greedy!"
This word, repeated many times in succession, fixed itself in Foma's
memory, and in the evening, at supper, he suddenly asked his father:
"Papa!"
"What?"
"Are you greedy?"
In reply to his father's questions Foma told him of the conversation
between the pilot and the machinist.
Pages:
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76